


The Paradoxical Girl

by blackbirdmessenger



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Adoption, Angst, Anxiety, Chameleon Arch (Doctor Who), Depression, Donna Noble isn't the DoctorDonna, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s04e13 Journey's End, Everyone is still together, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury, Memory Loss, Mentions of Jenny, No Timelord Metacrisis, Original Character(s), Past Abuse, Post-Episode AU: s04e13 Journey's End, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Running Away, Separation Anxiety, Social Anxiety, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:02:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23769694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackbirdmessenger/pseuds/blackbirdmessenger
Summary: Planet Earth has been restored and the Daleks have been defeated. Time for one last trip in the TARDIS to get everyone back home for one last goodbye. Except, this is not the case. Farewells are halted when a young woman materialises on the floor of the TARDIS, unconscious and pale. The war heroes, alert if there is another attack, need to figure out who this girl is and bring her back to Earth. But this is no ordinary girl, even if she insists she is. To make matters worse, no one believes her, the Torchwood team have no idea who or what she is, the companions are all on edge and the Doctor isn't taking her denials lightly.*Post-Episode AU: s04e13 Journey's End* The Timelord Metacrisis doesn't exist in this story, the DoctorDonna never came to be, Rose doesn't need to go back to her world and some of the Torchwood team are alive (not gonna say who cause spoilers - but people who have already watched Torchwood know who I'm talking about). First Doctor Who fanfic cause I've got WAY too many ideas in my head.
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Original Female Character(s), Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	The Paradoxical Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and his companions have saved Earth! Yay! All is said and done and everyone can go home. But not so fast, there is something else waiting for them. Is this a trick of the Daleks or something new entirely? Solving this will be one of the Doctor's biggest mysteries yet.

The team in the TARDIS rejoiced as Earth was finally back to its place in the Goldilocks Zone in the Solar System. They had finally landed on London soil, not having to worry for their safety any longer. The Dalek fleet had been defeated with a cost of some of the human race, but there were always going to be casualties – that was just an effect of war. The Doctor, along with Rose Tyler, Donna Noble, Martha Jones, Captain Jack Harkness, Mickey Smith and Sarah Jane Smith flew the TARDIS home (save Jackie Tyler, Roses’ mum, as the Doctor was worried she would break the damn ship somehow), all of them tired and knackered but bubbling with excitement. The Doctor watched his companions hug and smile, happy to be alive, but he knew in the back of his mind that they would all have to go back home soon and continue on with their lives. It was dangerous now, more dangerous than it had ever been. Even if the Daleks were destroyed, they would somehow make their way back to Earth. He always knew.

Rose leapt into the Doctor’s arms, finally being able to get the hug and the closeness she had craved for so long. Years hopping between each dimension with the dimension cannon had worn her down to find the Doctor. But every unsuccessful jump made her mature and made her more determined to find her lover (even if she couldn’t say it out loud without bursting into tears). Rose just decided that for now, for this tiny moment, she could believe that everything would be alright and that she could stay in her Doctor’s arms forever.

The happy moments of the group were short-lived, however, as a quick white light shone near the TARDIS doors with a _thud_ echoing on the metal grating of the TARDIS floor. What emerged seemed strange to them. A young, pale woman, between the ages of 18-21 was lying face down into the grating. She looked fragile and frail with thin arms and legs and a white, simple dress covering her frame. Black, long hair covered her face, but you could tell from a mile away that she was undoubtedly, one-hundred percent human. Jack reached out first to the girl, but the Doctor stopped him, walking towards the girl slowly and taking out his sonic screwdriver. He scanned the girl and then stood up, taking a measure of the readings.

“Do we know who this is?” Donna asked quietly to no-one in particular, trying to disclose what just randomly appeared in the TARDIS.

The Doctor furrowed his eyebrows. “No idea. It says here she is fully human, with no extra-terrestrial monotonies.” He explained.

“So why did she appear on the TARDIS if she is human, Doc?” Jack asked. He took a step closer to the girl, kneeling down and parting her hair back so that he could see her face. Martha knelt beside him, checking for a pulse.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” The Doctor muttered. He then jogged over to his console monitor, trying to see if the TARDIS picked up any weird signals on their journey back to the Solar System, in which she did not.

“There’s a pulse, Doctor,” Martha announced. “I want to check her injuries, if she’s got any, to make sure she is alright.” The Doctor didn’t respond, only just stared at the screen. Martha sighed, deciding to look her over anyway.

Mickey piped up. “Then we can take her to the closest hospital, yeah? Someone will know who she is and then she can go back home, reunite with her family or somethin’? She’d be as confused as we are.” But the Doctor still didn’t listen. He remained silent, trying to rack his brain to figure out if this was another alien attack. He wasn’t sure, but he was very worried, that's for certain. If the Daleks had sent a weapon out to them and knew their exact location, how long would it be until they could come back full force?

“Doctor?” Rose whispered softly, taking his arm. She looked up at him with her big, brown eyes. “Are you alright?”

The Doctor looked down at Rose. “I’m fine, Rose, just confused.” He took his glasses off, sighing and rubbing his eyes. “This doesn’t feel the same to me when Donna materialised on the TARDIS after I… after I _lost you_. This feels different. This girl feels _different_. It’s like there’s something itching at the back of my mind when I look at her. I can’t seem to get a read on her, and I don’t think the sonic is sensing her properly.”

“Doctor!” Sarah Jane said. The Doctor looked up at her voice. She wore a sad smile. “I need to get back home to Luke. He’ll be worried sick, and I don’t want to leave him for any longer than necessary. I hope you understand.”

The Doctor walked over to Sarah Jane and hugged her. They embraced each other for a moment, then stepped apart. “My Sarah Jane. How could I ever repay you?”

“You already have,” She said with a wink. “you let me travel with you again. That is all I could ever ask for. Until we meet again, Doctor.”

He nodded, the Doctor smiling that same smile Sarah Jane had known ever since she was young. She ran out of the TARDIS to her son, with the door shutting behind her. “If you need to,” The Doctor said, being suddenly reminded by Sarah Jane's departure, “you can ring your families. Make sure you let them know you’re safe.” The companions grabbed their phones and called their respected friends and family, letting them know they were alright. “Jack.” The Doctor signalled him to come over to the console monitor.

“Will Torchwood be able to analyse the girl? It seems strange to say but I don’t think the TARDIS is working too well right now, time-rift and everything, but I think this girl is having some impact on her. Will your team be able to do that?” The Doctor asked Jack in a hushed voice.

“I believe so. Gwen, Ianto, Tosh and Owen are probably cleaning up right now if I’m right." Jack smiled. Then, it faded away. "Doctor, do you think it’s the Daleks coming back?” Jack asked him.

The Doctor looked over at the mysterious girl gravely. “I really hope not. And if it is them, then we must prepare for what happens next. I can’t let you all go through that again. If she’s not their weapon of sorts, then we’ll figure out what happened, because a human can’t just materialise on here with no cause. Even if it’s nanogenes, like Donna had, I still want to do a full check. I don’t believe she’s human.”

“We’ll fight to the end, Doctor. You can count on us.” Jack did his army salute, the Doctor giving a small one back, and Jack checked with his team.

Everyone was too caught up with checking on their families that the girl was momentarily forgotten until a small groan was heard. Silence ensued, minus Jack letting Torchwood know of the current situation. The Doctor walked over to the girl. He moved her hair out of her eyes as she woke up, trying to figure out if he had seen her before.

“Welcome back to the land of the living." The Doctor smiled. "What’s your name?” He asked her quietly, judging that she was now awake. This was the first step to trust – no matter how tired and groggy she was.

“I… Iris.” The girl whispered, trying to get her voice back. Iris didn’t know what was happening or where she was. She couldn’t even remember where she came from. Nothing made sense, and even in her sleepy state, it frightened her. Iris, lying on the ground, made out the small details of metal grating below her, yellow hues in the room (she guessed it was a room, it couldn’t be outside) that she was in and a red converse shoe that was in front of her. She then looked up into the brown eyes of a handsome and gorgeous man who was watching her quizzically.

“Iris. Okay, Iris. And do you know how you got here?” He asked her, hoping she could comprehend that question.

“No, no I don’t. I just remember the feeling of falling… and…” Iris drifted off taking notice of the other people in the room.

She then heard the click of a phone and the sound of footsteps coming nearer to her. “Torchwood said they can analyse her. They’d need your expertise though, Doctor.” 

“Good. The sooner we can get her home the better. I’m pretty sure you lot know a bit about… things of this nature.” He didn’t want to say aliens just in case he’d scare the poor girl. “Fancy another round trip in the TARDIS? Provided that this time we won’t get attacked by killing machines?” He asked everyone.

The companions smiled and agreed, Rose especially eager to just be in the sight of her Doctor. Martha was happy to not leave her patient’s side, and Donna was too excited to retire for the day, no matter how life-threatening this had all become. Jackie and Mickey were just happy to do whatever since sleep could wait… eventually. Iris was confused and disorientated as Jack held her up so that she wouldn’t sway to the ground. She didn’t even remember being picked up. The Doctor had disappeared over to the control panels, setting up the coordinates for Torchwood, in Cardiff, to the correct time said by Jack. The TARDIS then materialised, wheezing and groaning as it was trying to carry them all through time and space, putting on the extra load of this mysterious girl. Iris was too out of it to even know what a _TARPIZ_ was… whatever that meant, maybe she hadn’t heard correctly(?), or where she was going to in Cardiff. She hadn’t realised the feeling of being kidnapped yet, as she was believing herself that it was a dream. Iris was holding onto the last bit of hope that none of this was happening and that she’d wake up in her bed in a few minutes, but she was stuck on an endless loop.

The shake of the machine landing knocked her back into her senses. She didn’t know who these people were, and she didn’t know where in Cardiff she was. It scared her, and she felt a man help her to stand up fully, guiding her out of the room to another. And once she was out of that yellow-hued room, Iris legged it, in full flight mode, running as far away from the people as she could. She looked over her shoulder, expecting her ‘captors’ to run after her, but the four new faces and the familiar ones didn’t, they just watched her run around the premises, trying to find an unlocked door or an emergency exit, but to no avail. Iris was solely and utterly trapped in this place, and she didn’t know what for. 

Iris tried another door, but that’s when she felt a hand touch her shoulder that stilled her movements. “Stop, you’re okay. You’re safe here. You’re in Torchwood, it’s a medical centre in Cardiff.” Jack somewhat lied. They had to make her comfortable so that she wasn’t any more panicked than she already was. “We’ve brought you here just to make sure you’re alright. This is the Doctor. He’s the one in charge of your… care here.”

The Doctor walked up to her and smiled briefly, taking Jack’s place. “Iris, your health and wellbeing is my number one priority, okay? We need to examine you so that we can figure out what happened so that you can eventually go home and be as right as rain.” He explained, smiling to prove his point. “Don’t think you’ve been singled out. Martha was walking home from work and saw you lying on the ground, so you can thank her for saving you and bringing you back here, just minutes ago. This has happened before, you don't need to worry about being the first.”

They had to lie; since it was really the only way that they could keep her here. They couldn’t tell her that Torchwood was a laboratory where they researched and discovered things about aliens and the extra-terrestrial. They didn’t know if she knew about the alien attacks and the recent Dalek invasion, or if she was from this planet at all. One little slip-up and it could ruin their trust, because the Doctor knew it was something more than an examination in the TARDIS. He felt drawn to her, almost to say connected. He couldn’t put the TARDIS on any more strain than she had; the TARDIS needed to rest, so Torchwood was the next best thing (with relatively working equipment). Jack was a time agent, so he knew his stuff.

So that was the story they came up with (well, that the Doctor came up with). He made sure to tell everyone in passing before Iris was aware and fully awake: Torchwood was a specialist medical centre, and everyone accounted for worked there as part of a government initiative to help anyone in who were affected by the alien attacks (although they couldn’t say that – so normal attacks it would be). The story was that Martha had walked home from working at Torchwood when she ‘spotted’ Iris lying on the path next to an under passing. The hospital was too long of a trip and since the Torchwood medical centre was closed for the night and closer, she could take Iris back to where she worked. The Doctor and Jack were the ‘head doctors’ of the centre while the companions and the Torchwood team helped along with the sidelines.

If Iris believed that then they were set in stone until they could find out what was wrong. Still shaken, Iris smiled a watery smile as the Doctor and Jack introduced her to everyone. She didn’t like the idea of hospitals and the like. Still though, if they could figure out what happened then she could leave. Send her on her way home, wherever that could be now, with some pills and a follow-up then she could get back to her life. Memories were becoming a bit hard to remember and reach now, she had noticed. But she just passed it off as her anxiety. She swore that she was fine. Waking up in a hospital close to this was normal, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Welcome to the story - I hope you've enjoyed chapter one. So this is a different AU post Journey's End. Basically, the DoctorDonna and the Metacrisis Doctor don't exist, and Rose doesn't have to leave for her parallel world. Everything's happy (as it can be I suppose). Comments are appreciated, so if I have missed something vital to the lore or I've misread/misunderstood a part of the actual story please let me know! I don't want to continue a story with misinformation, but I think I am fine right now.
> 
> This is my first ever Doctor Who fanfic after reading hundreds of them. I've got so many ideas in my head so I decided to make my own. Thanks, everyone! :)

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully, Chapter 1 was good! Let me know if there is anything I need to work on or if I need to get my facts on the show straight PLEASE let me know! I don't want to run with something that is incorrect or that I've misinterpreted. Comments are appreciated. Thank you all! :)


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